A message of unvarnished hope from African activist Wangari Maathai

Boy, it does a body — not to mention a soul — so much good to hear a message of unvarnished hope once in a while. And that’s exactly what Nobel Laureate and enviro-activist Wangari Maathai brought to Seattle last night.

You may know her as the woman who organized the Greenbelt Movement, arranging for African women to plant millions of trees, which won her the Nobel and the nickname “The Tree Lady.”

She’s thinking a little more broadly now, and flogging her new book, “Unbowed,” from which she read entertaining and sometimes riveting passages. Her message is that empowering women, saving the planet and supporting democracy are all basically the same struggle. Here are some snippets from her talk:

On climate change:

The scientists have spoken. … We have moral responsibility if we don’t want to pass that responsibility on to our children and grandchildren. … We can sometimes get overwhelmed by the big picture. But this is something we can do. It is not difficult to plant trees.

On taking timber from forests:

When we do that, we’re really condemning the future generations to death.

Her native Kenya and other less developed countries, she said, are run by a “small elite that literally took over from the colonial system of government. … Generally, they are thinking about how much they can get in their pockets while they are in power.”

She praised a $100 million trust fund set up recently by the British government to protect forests: “We are creating something that can be very powerful.”

Her final anecdote was a parable, really, about a hummingbird that is chased from a burning forest, along with all the other animals. As the inferno grows, the hummingbird goes to the river, gets a beakful of water, flies over and drops it on the fire.

The other animals ridicule the tiny bird, which can carry less than a thimbleful of water in its beak. The bird answers: “I am doing the best I can.” Said Maathai:

That is all we can do during our time. … Leave this room empowered and encouraged and never give up. … Just remember that hummingbird.

What can you do? She asks that every living person take it upon himself or herself to plant 10 trees.

Want to know more?
Here’s a Q-and-A with Maathai from the Sacramento Bee’s Allen Pierleoni.